This just popped up on my Facebook memories. I love this story!
Posted by Brad
I remember one time when I was a baby cop I was in dispatch and I talked about picking up some “gravy overtime” by getting trained to work as a dispatcher. One of the dispatchers in the room shot daggers at me and pretty much made me feel like a jackass.
In the ensuing 17 years, I became aware of just how difficult of a job they have, the toughest part of which is being calm in the storm both on the phone and on the radio, and not knowing exactly what’s happening on the other end of either. As I became an old(er) cop, I tried to teach the young guys to take care of their dispatchers, because the dispatchers are the ones who will get you what you need in your greatest times of need.
Today, one of the greats retires. Joy Shepherd Geraty, here’s to a career of pulling dumb asses like me out of the fire and sometimes delivering the appropriate verbal smackdown at just the right moment (although it was Rebecca Maestas who shot the aforementioned daggers). Your cops may not always realize how much they need you, but they do, and you’ve always been there.
Slainte!